


A White Christmas

by orphan_account



Series: Christmas with the Starks [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, My First Fanfic, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 06:42:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5529755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ned Stark doesn't know whether he is blessed or cursed when a surprise Christmas Eve blizzard snows him into his house with Catelyn Tully, who is not only his brother's ex but also the girl he had been crushing on for the past year. He can't figure out if the gods are laughing at him, or if they're giving him the opportunity to finally muster up enough courage to ask her out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A White Christmas

**7:21am, December 24th, 1993**

 

Ned awoke with a start, sharply sitting up from his resting position in his bed. He was sweating profusely and it took a while for him to regulate his breathing. Panicked, Ned looked around to get his bearings but couldn't see anything at all through the blinding darkness.

 

Trying to recollect last night was the hard part. Ned simply sat there rubbing his temples gently while the tiredness seeped out of his body. Suddenly he remembered it all. He had gone to the bar drinking with Robert and some other friends from the lumber mill to celebrate Christmas before they all went away to see their respective families.

 

It was all coming back to Ned now. He was supposed to see his mother and Benjen tomorrow for Christmas dinner. Ned also did not forget Jon, his sister's young baby whom Ned was taking care of. Looking around, it was evident that baby Jon wasn't here. Ned then remembered that he'd responsibly left the boy with his sweet old lady of a neighbour called Nan before he went out drinking last night.

 

He went into his bathroom and brushed his teeth quickly , proceeding to walk into his kitchen and drink a glass of cold, fresh water to wash out the pints of strong northern ale from last night. Ned then went over to the curtains and pulled them open, unsurprised by the sight before him. If anything, he was agitated by the snow which had come unexpectedly over night.

 

Ned muttered a silent curse to the weather reporters for not seeing a bloody blizzard coming. If they'd known, then Ned might have been able to adjust his schedule. But now he had to go out into several feet of snow to find his buried car so that he could buy Christmas pudding for his family dinner tomorrow. He always brought the Christmas pudding every year, and it wouldn't quite be a Stark Christmas gathering without the flaming Christmas pudding.

 

So, dutifully, Ned changed into his warm winter clothes, pulling on his fur coat jacket and tying his boots before going into his closet to get his shovel. Ned opened the front door, but had to give it a firm shove or two to get it to open against the snowdrift which had built up against Ned's small house overnight.

 

Trudging through chest-deep, bitingly cold snow, Ned found his way to where he estimated where his driveway should be. He then started digging.

 

**8:00am, December 24th, 1993**

 

Catelyn woke up merrily, tapping the snooze button on her alarm clock. She hummed Christmas songs as she moved about her rented apartment, getting ready for the day. Finally she found herself sitting on the couch, wrapping presents for her siblings who she'd be meeting later on today.

 

She sighed, though, when she looked out of her small window to see knee-high snow. A snowy Christmas was always fun. In fact, she really liked them. She remembered when she was young when uncle Brynden would take her and Lysa to the frozen lakes and rivers, where they could spend the entire day ice-skating and building snow castles.

 

However, Catelyn had not expected a snowy Christmas this year. She had flown out all the way to Winterfell to meet her brother who was working up here so that the three Tully siblings could spend the holidays together; but the downfall of coming up north was the cold. The damned cold, which went straight through the clothes she'd brought up from Riverrun. If she'd known, she would have taken another suitcase of clothes.

 

It was kind of her fault, though. After all, this wasn't her first time in the North. She had been here last Christmas, though that felt like a lifetime ago. Back when she was dating Brandon she had joined him and his family for Christmas. That was when their relationship was good; before he had cheated on her with some Dornish slut. She hadn't heard from him or the Starks since. That was mostly due to her cutting them off. She prayed a silent prayer that she wouldn't run into any of them while she was up here.

 

Catelyn was pulled from her thoughts by her phone ringing. She flipped open her phone and answered the call. "Hello?", she spoke into the phone as she continued wrapping presents and writing Christmas cards.

 

"Hey, Cat, it's me", came Lysa's voice from the other end of the phone.

 

"Hi Lysa, what's up?", she said.

 

"I have some bad news...", she began. Catelyn stopped what she was doing and paid full attention to the phone, "...I can't make it to Christmas with you and Edmure", she revealed.

 

"What?!", Catelyn replied, not bothering to hide the shock in her voice, "why not?".

 

"Well, you know that guy I've been seeing?", Lysa giggled like a little girl, "well, I'm spending Christmas with him".

 

Catelyn wanted more than anything to slap Lysa right now. Their father had always taught them to put family first. "Do you mean Petyr Baelish?", Catelyn questioned, "you know well that he tried to go after me, and he only wants you now because you're his second choice!", Catelyn fumed.

 

"You're just jealous", Lysa responded smugly. Catelyn opened her mouth to shout into the phone again but thought better of it, instead deciding to take a deep breath. "Anyway, can you let Ed know?".

 

"Yeah, fine", Catelyn huffed.

 

"Thanks! Bye!", Lysa chirped happily.

 

Catelyn hung up the phone and felt like screaming. Lysa always got on her nerves. She always seemed to find a way to annoy Catelyn.

 

Just as she began to think to call Edmure, her phone rang again. Answering, she said "Hello?" perhaps a bit more aggressively than she meant to.

 

"It's me", Edmure said.

 

"Oh", Catelyn's voice softened, "I, uh... have some bad news".

 

"Me too", Edmure cut in.

 

"Don't tell me you can't make it either", Catelyn joked sarcastically. Edmure's silence made her laugh fade quickly though.

 

"Yeah, about that... um... I can't make it to Christmas dinner", Edmure stammered out awkwardly.

 

"Edmure, I swear to all seven gods that if you're ditching me to hang out with your 'bros' again, then I will punch straight through this phone and break your jaw!", she half-yelled, sounding too much like their mother.

 

When Edmure suddenly hung up on her, she threw her phone directly at the wall. Catelyn looked angrily down at the presents which she had spent all day yesterday picking out for her brother and sister. She kicked them across the floor, only stopping to make sure that she hadn't broken her phone. Thankfully, she hadn't.

 

Composing her thoughts, Catelyn decided to take a walk to blow off some steam. This was all so typical of her family. Whenever she tried to get them close, they always found a way to pull them farther apart. That was all she wanted in the end: a close family. Was that so selfish of her? Did she deserve to be blown off like this?

 

Catelyn put her coat on and covered herself with her warmest scarf and gloves. She pocketed her phone and keys and went outside into the still-deep snows, even though the morning sun as well as the road crews had cleared most of it quickly. That was one thing she loved about the North - they handled blizzards better than any of the other states in the south. Catelyn was sure that she could find something else she loved up here if she tried hard enough.

 

**1:36pm, December 24th, 1993**

 

It had taken him the better part of the morning to clear his driveway. He had found it quite meditative, actually. The serene, silent snowy atmosphere was indeed very relaxing, and the physical exertion had made his muscles ache in a good way. He had even decided to clear the driveways of his neighbors before picking up baby Jon from Nan who had been babysitting him.

 

Ned chatted for a while with Nan, listening to her tell him what a good baby Jon was. Ned had to agree. Jon never cried and rarely fussed. He also had the Stark look. Ned wondered if he looked like Jon when he was a baby. Nan then wished Ned a merry Christmas, and Ned returned the salutation.

 

He returned to his car and put Jon into the booster seat in the back. Ned drove slowly along the roads to the shops. He had been driving on snow and ice for as long as he could remember, so he wasn't going slowly to avoid an accident, but instead he wanted time to think while he drove.

 

Mainly, Ned reflected on his family. They were the most important thing to him, as evidenced by the fact that he had spent half of his day getting out of his house to get a desert for them. Ned thought a lot about Brandon and Lyanna these days. His mind also drifted to memories of his father as well.

 

Ned wished that he could have his childhood back. The gods forced him to grow up too quickly. He was only 23 years old, but he felt like he was a grumpy 40-year-old. It wasn't fair what had happened to his folks, but in the end life wasn't fair. When Ned had accepted that, life became a bit more bearable. In the end, he wasn't doing too badly. He had his own house, a steady job, good friends that he could trust, and he often got to look after Jon.

 

Yeah, things weren't too bad. Ned smiled to himself - a thing he forced himself to do every so often to keep a healthy state of mind. Funnily enough, this time he meant it.

 

**4:49pm, December 24th, 1993**

 

This was getting scary. The blizzard had come back, and Catelyn was stranded in some street, in a neighborhood she wasn't familiar with. She truly feared for her life. The scarf around her face felt flimsy against the chilling winds that seemed to pierce straight through her skin and the wools and cotton of her clothes.

 

She desperately clung to a street-post as another gust of icy wind threatened to sweep her off her feet. This walk was a terrible idea in hindsight. She just wanted to get home. Catelyn seriously regretted going to that bar in the first place.

 

She looked up, squinting through the flurry of snow which assaulted her face, and blinking to get the ice off of her eyelashes. She thought that she could make out a figure approaching her, but she couldn't really tell.

 

**4:50pm, December 24th, 1993**

 

He was sitting in his warm house, playing with Jon in his crib. Ned tickled his nephew and let the baby wrap his small fingers around his. Ned pulled faces and found himself laughing when Jon smiled. Ned stood up after a while and left Jon right after feeding him some warm milk through a bottle.

 

Ned moved to his couch and turned the TV on. Unfortunately, there was nothing interesting on. He turned it off. Not a minute later he heard a massive clunking sound coming from the boiler room. Ned rushed into it, and immediately saw the issue. Somehow his heater had broken. Of all times, of course it had to be now, when last night's blizzard was suddenly back in full swing. It was already darkening outside - the snowstorm blocking out the sun.

 

Exasperated, Ned went back into his living room. He was about to go and check on Jon when he saw something curious out of his window. It was flash of red. Ned walked over to investigate further. He wiped his sleeve against the steamed-up window to get a better look. He now saw it easily.

 

Her hair shone like bright copper against a blank white canvas. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. He was too enraptured by her to even question what she was doing on his street, and more importantly why he wasn't running out to help her get out of this blizzard.

 

Acting on his thought, he threw his front door open without even pausing to think. He ran over to where she was standing. At this point, she had practically collapsed onto the ground. He picked her face up in his hands to make sure that it was her. It was. Her soft blue eyes looked like one of those oceans that he saw in postcards from Dorne.

 

But it was clear that she was totally out of it. He hated to think what would've happened to her if he hadn't ran to her just now. He scooped her up in his strong arms and carried her into his house. He was sure that she wouldn't mind if he did this. He placed her onto his sofa and put a blanket over her.

 

Ned looked down at his own feet and realised that in his rush he hadn't put any shoes on. His socks were covered in snow which soon melted to soak his feet with freezing water. He peeled them off and put them on his radiator, but then remembered that his heater was broken. He cursed to himself.

 

He went back over to Catelyn and held her hands as he leaned towards her face. "Hey, Cat, it's me, Ned. Uh... you were stuck out there and I couldn't let you freeze. I hope you don't mind that I brought you in here", he felt like he needed to apologise, "anyway, I just need to check that you're ok", he added. When she didn't respond he felt extremely worried. Her eyes were closed tight shut, and her skin felt like ice to the touch.

 

However, when her sweet, faint voice came out of her red lips, Ned felt relieved, "I'm fine. Thank you, Ned", she said, "I just need to rest".

 

So he let her rest. He honestly didn't know if it was weird that he was now taking care of his brother's ex. It was especially weird for him because he'd thought of nothing more than Catelyn for the past year. His crush on her had been embarrassing, to say the least.

 

And now, he was staring at her soft, red cheeks, wondering how they'd feel against his lips. He also looked at the curve of her hips, and his mind went to thoughts of wrapping his hands around them as he'd pump into her.

 

He looked away quickly, reprimanding himself for such thoughts. He went away into his bedroom to take a nap and to wait for Catelyn to wake up.

 

 **6:15pm** **, December 24th, 1993**

 

She rolled off of Ned Stark's couch, thankful for the warmth of his home. Well, it wasn't  _that_ warm, per se, but it was a welcome change from outside, where she could hear the winds howling and hail falling.

 

When she fully opened her eyes, she saw Ned stoking a log-fire at the fireplace beneath the TV. Catelyn admired the way his muscles rippled as he moved. He certainly wasn't the skinny, lanky boy she'd met a year ago. And although she wouldn't admit it to herself, she stared at his ass for longer than she should have.

 

When he heard her stir, Ned turned around and gave Catelyn a warm, genuine smile which resonated right through her. "You're awake", he said happily.

 

"I am", she nodded, suddenly feeling very awkward, "I hope I'm not intruding. I know it's Christmas Eve..."

 

"Oh, don't be ridiculous", Ned interrupted her, "you're welcome into my home whenever you want. Besides, I'm only seeing my family tomorrow, so you're welcome to stay for the night".

 

"Thank you", she thanked.

 

"It's alright", he smiled again, "I don't mind sleeping on the couch. And I couldn't let you go back out there with a good conscience".

 

She was about to thank him again, but then she heard a noise coming from a room over. They weren't alone, it seemed.

 

Ned heard it too, as he gave her an apologetic look as he went into the room. While he was gone, Catelyn snuggled further into the blanket.  _Ned's blanket_. It even smelled like him. It was a musky scent of pine and sweat.

 

He returned with a bundle of blankets in his arms. Cat's jaw dropped, suddenly aware that Ned had a kid.

 

"What's his name?", she asked

 

"Jon", Ned replied softly, never taking his eyes off of the boy.

 

"Is he yours?", the words flew from Catelyn's lips before she could stop them.

 

Ned looked at her then. "What?! Oh! No! I mean... uh, he's Lyanna's child. You remember Lyanna, don't you?", he asked.

 

Catelyn nodded. "How is she, by the way?".

 

Ned shuffled nervously and looked at his feet. "I forgot that you haven't heard from us since...", he paused to take a deep breath before continuing, "Lyanna died in childbirth", he revealed.

 

"Oh, gods, I'm so sorry, Ned", she reached out and caressed his arm gently. She'd never known Lyanna very well. She always saw Lyanna as wild and rebellious. But even though she never got to know her, it was still a tragedy that she died.

 

Ned nodded gently, keeping his eyes fixed to the floor. "Do you want to hold him?", Ned offered after a minute of awkward silence, extending Jon towards her.

 

"Sure", she smiled sweetly at him. She took the baby in her arms and rocked him back and forth gently. "Hey, little Jon. I'm Catelyn", she whispered softly to the baby. The baby gurgled happily.

 

"He likes you", Ned said.

 

"So...", Catelyn began, ready to address the elephant in the room, "how's Brandon?".

 

Ned gulped and refused to make eye contact with her. "Once again, I forgot that you haven't heard from us in a while...", he said with a shaky, uneven voice. When he started sniffling, she gently put Jon down, and even more gently she encouragingly put her hands on his shoulders.

 

Ned's grey eyes were steely at first, but then shiny from tears. His solemn face looked more weathered than his years should permit.

 

"...Brandon's not alive either", he finally choked out. Catelyn had to pull away at that. She didn't feel like asking how it happened. She assumed that Ned would tell her anyway. As she expected, he continued, "there was a fire. My dad, Rickard, was inside the building. Brandon just wouldn't let him burn in there. That arrogant fool threw himself in there. We told him to wait for the firemen, but he wouldn't listen. Why didn't he listen?!", he shouted the last part. When Ned realised who he was speaking to, he took himself down a notch.

 

"Ned... I don't know what to say", she said. She wanted to offer him some comforting words, but felt like this wasn't the time. He had probably already dealt with it in his own way. The only thing she could do was express her apologies; and that was probably something he'd heard a hundred times from a hundred different people.

 

So she simply hugged him. He hugged her back, tracing circles over her back with his palm. They stayed like that for a while, only stopping when Jon made a noise, bringing them back to earth. Ned took Jon back to his crib and Catelyn sat back on the couch, wondering what the hell just happened.

 

**7:59pm, December 24th, 1993**

 

They both heartily sung along with the TV Christmas music channel, dancing on each other's toes and often spilling their cups of mulled wine onto the floor.

 

One drunken, staggered step sent the two of them hurtling over - with Ned falling straight on top of Catelyn. He could see that he had winded her. He tried to push himself off of her, but ended up slumping into her even further.

 

He giggled like an idiot, hoping that she didn't feel his boner pressing into her thigh. He didn't care that much, though. He was way too drunk. Ned couldn't quite remember when they'd started drinking. What had been an innocent cup of coffee had led into hours of drinking and dancing and singing, and Catelyn pouring out her story about what she was doing in the North, her siblings ditching her on Christmas day, and consequently what she was doing walking in a blizzard.

 

But now, with Catelyn pinned beneath him, he started to look at her in  _that way_ again. Her lips were slightly parted, and her chest lifted and fell beneath him as she breathed rapidly. She was looking at him with glazed eyes with diluted pupils. Maybe he was interpreting it wrong, but he could've sworn that she wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss her.

 

Testing his theory, he leant down so close to her that he could feel her hot breath against his skin. Their lips met curiously, touching so lightly that it felt like he was kissing a feather.

 

But then the kiss deepened. They pressed so close that Catelyn would certainly feel Ned's erection now. He grinded his hips against her centre, and she responded by moving her hips against his. The feeling nearly made him go crazy. But when she opened her lips ever so slightly, letting her hot tongue slide across his bottom lip, he knew that there was no way he was not going to lose his mind. He was already over the edge.

 

She nibbled gently on his lip, and he responded by sucking lovebites into the pale line of her throat. He frantically pressed a trail of hot, wet kisses against her jaw and cheeks as if it was the last thing he'd ever do. She desperately pulled his face back to hers and made them kiss again. Ned slipped his tongue into her mouth, dancing his tongue with hers and running it over her pearly teeth.

 

They continued to explore each other bodies with their hands. Catelyn squeezed the muscles on his arms and back and shoulders, while he moved one hand over her smooth, bare stomach while the other ran through her silky red hair which he had always dreamed of touching. The former hand cheekily crept lower until he was teasing her sex through her obstructive clothes.

 

She moaned a sweet noise into his mouth, becoming louder when he applied more pressure. Ned wanted to see how hard he could make her scream.

 

He pulled back for a moment, looking down at the beautiful mess he'd created. Her shirt was pulled up above her belly button, and when he looked at her face it was riddled with pure  _want_.

 

Ned went back down to kiss a smudge of lipstick on the corner of her lips. "I want to fuck you", he suggested filthily, eliciting a delighted squeal from her. He felt an uncharacteristic need to push her into his bedroom and take her in his bed. He nearly went cross-eyed as he imagined what she'd feel like clenching around him. He wanted to make her feel good. To have her squirm and scream his name, and rake her nails through his hair and into his back.

 

Catelyn pulled herself up and captured his lips for a moment, but then he pulled back, giving her a teasing look. She glared back at him, but was unable to hide the playful smirk on her face.

 

He picked her up in his arms, feeling some major deja vu as he carried her into his bedroom. He placed her against his pillows and kissed her again, letting her hungrily make out with his lips, stubbly cheeks and face.

 

" _Please_ ", she whined, reaching down to pull his pants down.

 

He obliged.

 

**7:21am, December 25th, 1993**

 

She woke up in the morning and smiled as she recalled last night's activities. She hadn't known that it was possible for a man to go on for so long, and to go again so soon after finishing. She also hadn't ever experienced such a string of orgasms in her life. Obviously, she knew that it was possible for a girl to have that happen to her, but she'd never had the pleasure before now.

 

She stirred and stretched her stiff limbs, enjoying the sweet ache which made her back pop and toes curl. When Ned wakes up they could have a shower together, and pick up from last night. 

 

But as she stretched, she must have awoken Ned who was sleeping Ned to her, naked beneath the sheets. He mindlessly pulled the sheets down and pressed a delicate kiss into her breasts - sending new jolts of fire through her veins.

 

"Ned...", she turned towards him, kissing the tiredness out of his face. When he was fully awake he kissed her with more vigor. 

 

"Good morning", he smiled into her neck, nuzzling his nose into the soft spot behind her ear.

 

"Morning", she replied breathily.

 

"Do you want breakfast?", he asked. She was about to make a sarcastic comment about how she'd rather stay in bed with him, but her stomach automatically rumbled and gave her away. Ned chuckled. "I suppose so", he answered for her.

 

He stood up, unashamed in his nudity, and walked into his kitchen. She followed him through, but having the decency to keep a sheet wrapped around herself in case the neighbors could see. She felt somewhat ridiculous when she saw that the snow was still high up to the windows, blocking anyone from seeing in or out. She let the sheet fall to the floor and pool at her feet.

 

She knew that she was distracting Ned, and she loved it. She moved in front of him as he tried to fry some eggs, and she went close to him while he was cooking bacon.

 

Finally, he caved in, turning towards her and giving her a rough kiss. "Do you want to take a shower after breakfast", she suggested seductively.

 

His brow furrowed and lips pursed, which was not the response she'd expected.

 

"What's wrong?", she asked.

 

"I just have a question...", he started.

 

"Go on", she urged.

 

"Are you my girlfriend now? Because I really really like you, and I don't want this to be a one-time thing", he stuttered out rapidly.

 

Catelyn laughed. But when Ned's face went cold and stoic, she quickly followed up with "yes! Of course, Ned! I'd love to be your girlfriend. I only laughed because I thought that it was obvious after... last night", she assured, blushing at the last part.

 

His face softened. "Thanks... girlfriend", he bantered.

 

" _Boyfriend_ ", she teased back.

 

But deep down, Catelyn was extremely thankful that Ned had asked her to be his girlfriend. She was also frightened that it might've been a one-night fling. Because in her slightly tipsy state last night they had forgotten to wear protection, and she was certain that he had spent himself inside of her more than once. It would be a miracle if she didn't get pregnant. 

 

She  _needed_ him to be her boyfriend. Catelyn was a conservative: the kind who thinks that gays shouldn't get married. So if she did get pregnant, then she wouldn't be able to bring herself to get an abortion. And since there was no way that she could raise a baby by herself, she'd be more comfortable with someone good like Ned at her side. The reason she hadn't asked him is because she didn't want to push him into something he might not have wanted/been ready for.

 

But the gods knew that she was thankful that he had asked first. Now she could get to know him better. And if he would have her, then they could have more nights like this.

 

"Merry Christmas", she said to him.

 

"Merry Christmas", he said back.

 

This was certainly the best present ever.


End file.
